Task 2

Adorno see’s music in two forms, popular music and serious music. He first talks about how ‘popular’ music is standardized and see’s that it is homogenous in the way it is promoted, sold and also in arrangement and character, “ Best known is the rule that the chorus consists of thirty two bars and that the range is limited to one octave and one note.”(Adorno p3).

He also says “The whole structure of popular music is standardized, even where the attempt is made to circumvent standardization.”(Adorno p3) which implies that that even today’s alternative music is formulaic.

Adorno’s other principal belief was that popular music was pseudo individualistic. This means that the listener beliefs they are making an individual choice and that the music is authentic and different when in reality it is the same and most probably will have been done before in a slightly different way.

Another term or belief that Adorno speaks about is ‘plugging’, the constant of repetition via the mass media of popular music. This in turn brain washes people and generates a ‘sheep’ like mentality amongst people suppressing their desire to question life more deeply resulting in acceptance, conformity and compliance.

A modern example of this can be seen in today’s popular music scene where the so called music genre ‘dubstep’ has been plugged and plugged by the mass media which in turn has resulted in a dramatic increase in popularity.

I guess what Adorno is trying to say is that ‘popular’ music has a influence on our culture and society and if we don’t question what music we listen to then how can we question the society we live in.

This is a classic example of pseudo individualistic the listener beliefs that they are making a choice to listen to a new exciting band when in fact its been planned by the record company that people will react in this way. You can also notice a big influence in there style and music from the ramones. This backs up Adorno's veiw that everything is the same and homogenous even after 2 decades of change.

Modern panoptic example

I have chosen to look at the use of one-way glass as a modern panoptic example.

One-way glass is used widely in a number of institutions such as port of entry, casino’s and police stations. It is used in police stations in interview rooms to put suspects in a physiologically weaker position when being questioned. It is also used in casino to deter cheats and hustlers but I have chosen to focus in on the use of one-way glass in port of entries.

Usually one-way glass is used in the customs areas for example in airports to deter people from breaking import and export laws. When entering or leaving a country you are asked if you have anything to declare and have two options. You can either walk through ‘something to declare’ where you will be searched and examined, or you can walk through nothing to declare and face walking past a dark windowed office you cannot see into.

Using the one-way glass makes the people being viewed feel like they’re under omnipresent surveillance, “The Panopticon, on the other hand, has a role of amplification” (Foucault p87).

Even if they are not being watched or monitored the viewee is always under the fear of being caught and punished. “To induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assure the automatic functioning of power” (Foucault p82).

These systems are used to control and modify the behaviour of the public not by a present force but instead by themselves. “That this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it” (Foucault p82). This creates a role of self-regulation in the viewee.

The successful use of this system realise on the fear of the viewee being caught doing something which is prohibited. “ A real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation.” (Foucault p83). This fear is implemented by higher powers but is often regulated by the viewed themselves.

Reference text

'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.